Ascetic Pneumatology from John Cassian to Gregory the Great

Thomas L. Humphries, Jr.

Description

Ascetic Pneumatology from John Cassian to Gregory the Great presents three interconnected arguments. The first argument concerns scholarly readings of antiquity: there are developments in 5th and 6th century Latin pneumatology which we have overlooked. Theologians like John Cassian and Gregory the Great were engaged in a significant discussion of how the Holy Spirit works within Christian ascetics to reform their inner lives. Other theologians, like Leo the Great, participate to a lesser extent in a similar project. They applied pneumatology to theological anthropology. Thomas L. Humphries, Jr. labels that development "ascetic pneumatology," and beings to track some of the late antique schools of thought about the Holy Spirit. The second argument concerns the reception of Augustine in the two centuries immediately after his death: different people read Augustine differently. Augustine's theology was known and understood to varying degrees in various regions. Humphries demonstrates significant engagements with Augustine's theology as it was relevant to Pelagianism (evidenced in Prosper of Aquitaine), as it was relevant to Gallic Arians (evidenced with the Lerinian theologians), and as it was relevant to African Arians and certain questions posed of Nestorianism (evidenced with Fulgentius of Ruspe). Instead of attempting to rank various theologians as better and worse "Augustinians," Humphries argues that there were different kinds of "Augustinianisms" even in the years immediately after Augustine. The third argument concerns Gregory the Great and his sources. Once we see that ascetic pneumatology was a strain of thought in this era and see that there are different kinds of Augustinianisms, we can see that Gregory depends on both Augustine and Cassian. In the closing chapters, Humphries argues that Gregory uses Cassian's ascetic pneumatology, and this allows Gregory's synthesis of Cassian and Augustine to stand in greater relief than it has before. The study begins with Cassian, ends with Gregory, and is attentive to Augustine throughout.

Ascetic Pneumatology from John Cassian to Gregory the Great

Thomas L. Humphries, Jr.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Vision that they may Learn what they Desire1. Cassian s Catholic Ascetic Pneumatology2. Cassian s Ascetic Synthesis: The Spirit in Love and Contemplation3. Ascetic Pneumatology for the Laity4. Led by the Spirit: Augustinian Responses to Pelagianism and Predestination5. Off the Map at Lerins: An Augustinian Response to Arianism6. Displaced Ascetics: Fulgentius and Maxentius, an Augustinian Synthesis7. Dialogue of Desire: Gregory s Ascetic Pneumatology8. The Spirit in Contemplation and Allegory9. Becoming Aflame with the Spirit

Ascetic Pneumatology from John Cassian to Gregory the Great

Thomas L. Humphries, Jr.

Reviews and Awards

"In the end, Humphries' book succeeds in demonstrating that Latin pneumatology in the fifth and sixth centuries was concerned not only with doctrine, but also deeply with developing the Holy Spirit's role in the transformation of humanity. As such, this study has something significant to say about the theological enterprise." --Marginalia